1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive device for use with the information recording and/or reproducing apparatus which is intended to record and/or reproduce information against a card-like information recording medium, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been proposed various kinds of the information recording/reproducing apparatuses which are intended to optically record/reproduce information on/from the card-like information recording medium. In the case of these apparatuses, an optical card is inserted into the apparatus through a card inserting opening, which is then closed by a shutter to prevent two of the cards from being inserted into the apparatus at once. The card which has been inserted into the apparatus is carried to a certain position in the apparatus by a carrier system and originally positioned there. An optical pickup is then moved and originally positioned to locate at a certain point on the optical card. The optical card is then moved in its track direction while focus- and tracking-controlling the optical pickup, thereby enabling information to be recorded on and reproduced from the optical card. When this recording or reproducing of information is finished, the optical card is discharged outside the apparatus through the card inserting opening.
The shutter systems used by the apparatuses to open and close the card inserting opening can be generally grouped into two. One of them includes a shutter 33 located in an opening 31 into which a card 30 is inserted, and moved up and down by through a spring member 32 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the card 30 is inserted into the opening 31, as shown in FIG. 1. When the card 30 is to be inserted into the opening 31, the shutter 33 is pushed up by the card 30 which is forced into the opening 31 and the opening 31 is thus opened. When the card 30 is inserted into the apparatus through the opening 31, the shutter 33 is forced by the spring member 32 to again close the opening 31. After it is inserted into the apparatus, the card 30 is carried to a card processing section by a carrying roller 25 and its pairing roller 26. This conventional shutter system is disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model Disclosure Sho 56-105171.
The other shutter system is as shown in FIG. 2. A photo-interrupter 27 which detects the insertion of the card 30 into the opening 3 and which is arranged at the opening 31 drives a solenoid 28 connected to the shutter 33 which closes the opening 31, when the card 30 is inserted into the opening 31. When power is supplied to the solenoid 28 which serves as a drive source, the shutter 33 is driven to open the opening 31 and when the supply of power is stopped to the solenoid 28, the shutter 33 is driven to close the opening 31. The supply of power is controlled in this case through a circuit used only for this purpose. This conventional shutter system is disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model Disclosure Sho 57-29958.
The former of these conventional shutter systems is intended to contact the card with the shutter at the opening and forcedly push up the shutter by the friction of the card against the shutter. This causes the card to be damaged and when the card is repeatedly inserted into the apparatus through the opening, its life can be shortened.
The latter of them causes no problem as mentioned above, but it needs its drive source, its drive and control circuits. This makes the apparatus complicated, large in size and high in cost.